Carriage-mounted fans



April 22, 1958 F. REITERER ET'AL 2,831,628

CARRIAGE-MOUNTED FANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 9, 1955 FlG.l

INVENTORS,

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r h 0 r 8 r H 0 ed D. Rm 8 dW E n. I mm u M m F M Y B ATTORNEY.

April 22, 1958 F. REITERER ETAL 2,831,628

CARR IAGE-MOUN TED FANS flNVENTORS,

Ferdindnd RH r r 2 Louis windlgc e Maxwell E. Sporrov v- ATTORNEY- United States Patent Q CARRIAGE-MOUNTED FANS Ferdinand Reiterer and Louis Windisch, Paris, France Application March 9, 1955, Serial No. 493,113 Claims priority, application France March 11, 1954 12 Claims. (Cl. 239-114) It has been proposed to provide .cleaning fans which can be displaced along a track in order to cover a given zone.

Such fans may be used to advantage in factories particularly in textile mills, where the machines produce much dust or fibrous waste, which has to be blown away in order to keep the machines clean. The track of the fan is then arranged in such a manner that the fan passes successively over all the machines to be cleaned.

It is not advisable, however, for the current of air to be blown always in one direction, because dust may accumulate in regions out of range or shielded from said current of air, and cleaning is not effectively ensured. With a view to overcoming this disadvantage, numerous systems have been suggested for varying the direction of blowing.

For example, the track on which the carriage carrying the fan runs need not be an endless track and the carriage may run along it alternately in both directions. In this case it has been suggested that the inclination of the axis of the fan should be varied each time it reaches the end of its run, so that the current of air is in a different direction for each traverse of the fan.

It has also been suggested that two fans should be mounted on the carriage, arranged laterally and inclined in relation to the track, and that this inclination should be varied automatically by means of auxiliary mechanism.

Devices are also known comprising stops at predetermined intervals on the track, which strike the carriage and then cause the axis of the fan or of the nozzles associated therewith, to change direction.

All these proposals are complicated and only permit the cleaning of a limited surface and consequently necessitate a special air-guiding device for each type of machine.

The device according to the present invention has for its object to provide means to overcome this problem to be solved in a simple manner, and permits the swept zones to be regulated as required, without necessitating any modification of the air-guiding device.

According to the invention at one end of the carriage there is articulated a member supporting the fanning defiectors, said member being also given an oscillating movement controlled by a reduction gear driven by the motor which also drives the carriage and the fan proper.

According to a feature of the invention the supporting member carries on its lower portion an oblong slot in which a guiding roller engages which can be fitted into any one of several positions, having different eccentricities, in a plate, which is driven through a reduction gear, by the fan motor.

Thus the forward movement of the carriage and the driving of the fan on the one hand, and an oscillating movement of the deflectors and consequently of the air blown by the fan on the other hand, are obtained by means of a single motor.

It is possible to regulate the amplitude of the oscillation ice 3W at of the current of air very easily, simply by fitting the guiding roller in another position in the plate, having different eccentricity. Thus, the effective sweeping of a greater or smaller zone is obtained as required.

Moreover the frequency of the oscillations can be regulated by changing the ratio of the reduction gear.

Provision is also made for the device according to the invention to be used in combination with a fan having a double set of blades, blowing air in two opposite directions.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a general view of the to the track;

Figure 2 is a general view taken perpendicular to the track;

Figure 3 is a detailed view taken from the end of the carriage;

Figure 4 is a detailed view, in section, through a plane passing through the axis of the rollers, and

Figure 5 is a general view of the device associated with a double-acting fan.

In the figures, 1 represents the carriage, carrying the motor 2 which drives the shaft 3 of the fan 4 and the driving wheels 5 running on the guiding track 6, while 7 represents a guiding device for the current of air, such as a nozzle or deflector.

Referring to Figure 2 it will be seen that on the side opposite to the driving wheels 5,'the carriage rests on the track 6 by means of rollers 8 the width of which permits compensation to be made for any possible irregularities in the gauge of the rails. 9 indicates the pick-up shoe for the motor supply.

The member 10 carries the deflectors 7, and is articulated at 11 to the upper portion of the carriage 1. This member is provided with an oblong slot 12 in which is engaged a follower roller 13 mounted on a ball-bearing and fitted, as already stated, to a plate rigidly connected to a shaft operatively connected to the motor.

Referring now to the detailed Figures 3 and 4, a worm 14, is rigidly connected to the shaft of the motor 2 and drives, by means of worm-wheel 15, the axle 16 carrying the wheel 5 and the roller 8. In turn, this axle 16 drives, by means of gears 17, 13 and 19, the axle 20 carrying the other wheel-and-roller set. On this axle 20 is mounted a worm 21 which drives, by means of a pinion 22 mounted on a shaft 23, the plate 24.

The plate 24 carries a certain number of tapped holes such as 25, having different eccentricities, in one of which the journal of the ball-bearing roller 13 can be introduced, with a view to varying the amplitude of the oscillations of the support 1b of the deflectors.

The motor 2 is mounted below the reduction gear assembly. This arrangement ensures a rational distribution of the weight on the track thus giving the assembly a very great stability, and permitting a narrower rail-gauge to be used.

Finally, Figure 5 shows a device associated with a fan having a second set of blades 4' separated from the set of blades 4 by a baffle 26 so as to obtain one current of air directed downwardly and a further current of air directed upwardly.

Referring to Figure 3, the support 10 is fixedly attached to the deflector 7 so that any movement of the support is transferred to a corresponding movement of the deflector 7. A disc 24 shown in Figures 3 and 4, as predevice taken parallel viously explained, is provided with a plurality of tapped holes 15 each eccentrically displaced from the central axis in varying degrees and amplitudes to selectively support at each of the holes 25 a caster 13. The caster 13 is engageable by the support 10 along the slotted portion 12 of the said support and traverses a circular path in response to the circular movement of the circular disc 24 causing the support 10 to transcend an arcuate path about apivotal point ll in oscillatory fashion. Allattaclnnents to thede'flectormember attain the same oscillatory motion with respect to the vertical, such as the blades or nozzles specified herein.

Although we have described our invention with considerable detail and with respect to certain particular .ern bodiments of the invention, we do not desire to be limited to such details since many changes and modifications in the form, arrangements, proportions and sizes thereof may well be made without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention in its broadest aspect.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A carriage-mounted fan unit comprising a carriage having wheels, a fan on the carriage, a casingihousing said fan and pivotally connected to the carriage, said .casing having downwardly directed outlets on opposite sides of the carriage, meansen the carriage for oscillating said fan casing, a motor on the carriage connected to the fan, and driving connections between said motor, said carriage wheels and said means.

2. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, wherein said supporting member is provided with an ob long slot, and further comprising a disc driven by the said reduction gear, and a guiding caster roller engaged in said slot, said roller being fittable into any one of a plurality of positions,'having difierent eccentricities, in said disc.

3. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, wherein said supporting member is provided with an oblong slot, and further comprising a disc driven by the said reduction gear, and a guiding caster roller engaged in said slot, said roller being fittable into any one of a plurality of positions, having different eccentricities, in said disc, said carriage being dismountable.

4. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of oscillations of said air-deflection member is regulated by varying the ratio of said reduction gear.

5. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, wherein said carriage carries a pair of driving wheels on one side and a pair of rollers on the other side.

6. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1,

s wherein said motor is mounted in the lower portion of said carriage.

7. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, wherein said fan is adapted for blowing air downwardly.

8. A carriage-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, wherein said fan is adapted for blowing air upwardly.

9. A carriage-mounted fan vunit according to claim 1 wherein said fan comprises two sets of blades acting to blow air both upwardly and downwardly.

10. A tra eling blower device substantially as described co prising carriage support rollers adapted to move on rails, an electric motor on the said carriage to drive the said rollers, a shaft mounted fan having blades thereon and'fixed with respect to said carriage, the said fan rotatably driven by the said electric motor, a deflecting device pivotally supported on an axial support integral to the said carriage, the said deflecting device having an a 'ial slotted opening, a circular disc driven by the said motor and having a-plurality of apertures disposed about the disc center at difierent radii, thesaid apertures adapted to receive a caster which operably engages the said slotted opening to cause oscillation of the said deflecting device.

ll. A traveling blower driven substantially as described according to claim 10, and wherein a first worm gear arrangement is adapted to translate the movement of the motor shaft to the roller axis, and a second worm gear arrangement adapted to translate the roller Hi5 movement to the circular disc supporting the caster and engageable by the slotted portion of said deflecting device.

12. A carriage-mounted fan unit comprising a wheeled carriage, a fan mounted on the carriage, a supporting member articulated to one end of the carriage, an a'ir deflection member fixed to said supporting member, a motor on the carriage driving said fan, reduction gearing on the carriage connected to the motor and driving the wheels of the carriage, means controlled by gearing to oscillate said member, said means comprising a roller engaging said member and mounted on a-sha'ft threaded in one of a plurality of radially spaced tapped holes in a plate mounted on a shaft on the carriage and driven by a worm connected to said gearing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,920,768 Smith Aug. -1, 1933 2,695,039 Holtzclaw Nov. 23, 1 954 

